Google Glass and Enhanced Human Interaction

Google Glass is a blazing-hot topic right now, nowhere more so than in the healthcare space. The product has such incredible potential, its dominance so inevitable, that it’s easy to think of Glass as practically a conscious entity, blazing its own path forward. We were moved last week to a radically new perspective when a couple of our contributing doctors had the chance to capture cases with Glass.

These are doctors who have filmed dozens of cases for ReelDx holding hand-held digital cameras. When they set down the camera and put on Glass, none of us knew how the encounters would change. It didn’t take long for us to clearly see what we’d missed about Glass: It is an incredibly powerful tool for humans to use in improving their still-utterly-human interactions with each other.

The quality of our Glass-captured cases depended on the choices of the individuals wearing the Glass. In part, these were technical questions: how to frame the shot and capture good audio for all speakers; how and when to zoom. But much more important for our ReelDx contributors was the question of: How can I most-meaningfully apply the extra attention I have available now that I’m not distracted by a camera?

For healthcare providers across the industry, this question will quickly become: How can I enrich the quality of my patient encounters when I am no longer tethered to any 3rd party devices in the room – no computer, no keyboard, no chart?

The potential for enhanced human interactions is infinite. We are so excited to be a part of this revolution.